On the HCM Stock Exchange, the VN-Index inched down 0.01 per cent to close at 565.73 points. — VNS Photo

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Shares opened higher this morning on the two exchanges, but ended slightly lower due to sluggish trading.

On the HCM Stock Exchange, the VN-Index inched down 0.01 per cent to close at 565.73 points, but the VN30, which tracks the top 30 shares by market value and liquidity, was up 0.3 per cent to stand at 597.87 points.

Ocean Group (OGC) was the focus in this morning's trading. A great number of investors placed sell orders on millions of OGC shares at its floor price this morning, but only about 600,000 shares changed hands. The OGC price also dived 4.8 per cent to stand at VND4,000 each.

On Saturday, the State Bank of Vietnam announced it would buy Ocean Bank, in which Ocean Group is a major shareholder, at zero cost. This is the second bank that the central bank is acquiring compulsorily, after Construction Bank.

The overall market condition was negative, as the losers outnumbered the gainers by 104 to 78, while 124 stocks were flat.

The overall liquidity was low, with just a little more than 32 million shares, worth VND682 billion (US$31.6 million), being traded.

Only five stocks had trading of more than one million shares. HCM City Infrastructure Investment Co (CII) was leading with the trading of 1.3 million of its shares. The share price increased 2.84 per cent to close at VND21,700 ($1) per share.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also went down 0.15 per cent to end at 82.46 points, with a trading value of VND191.6 billion ($8.9 million).

The afternoon session will start at 1pm. — VNS